Good judgment comes from experience.
And often experience comes from bad judgment”
(Rita Mae Brown)
Robyn Kemp
ThemPra Social Pedagogy
Community Interest Company
Social Pedagogy & critical reflection:
an historic and a contemporary partnership
 18th century Johann Pestalozzi – observation and reflection as
essential components of the education of head, heart and hands
 19th century, Karl Mager – social pedagogy as ‘the theory of all the
personal, social and moral education in a given society’
Friedrich Diesterweg – ‘It forbids: arbitrary assumptions and
manipulations of human nature; any encouragement to act blindly and
mechanically; any kind of drill; rote learning; uniformity; force-feeding
with subject matter that is not understood etc.’
 20th century, Paulo Freire – promoted praxis (action that is
informed) and the ‘problem-posing’ concept of education: ‘must
abandon the educational goal of deposit-making and replace it with
the posing of the problems of human beings in their relations with
the world.’
SCIENCE
Academic discipline
Branch of research
EDUCATION
PRACTICE
Profession
Prof Hamalainen, 2014,
Developing Modern Social Pedagogy
Badry &
Knapp,
2003
Defining Critical Reflection
Oxford English Dictionary
Reflection - ‘Serious thought or consideration ’
Critical – ‘Involving the objective analysis and
evaluation of an issue in order to form a
judgement ’
UK descriptions of critical reflection
 Jan Fook and Fiona Gardner, 2007
‘unsettling individual assumptions to bring about social
changes.
Emphasises that:
 Reflection is deeper than popular notions of thinking
 Critical reflection is based on an understanding of the
individual in societal context and links between the
individual and society
 Critical reflection is both a theory and a practice
 Critical reflection links changed awareness with
changed action’ (p16)
UK descriptions of critical reflection
 Gillian Ruch, 2007
‘Critical reflection … seeks to transform practice by challenging
the existing social, political and cultural conditions that promote
certain ‘constitutive interests’ at the expense of others and the
structural forces that distort or constrain professional practice.’
(p661)
 Neil Thompson, 2008
‘looking beneath the surface of the presenting problem and
situation (critical depth), and more widely at the social
circumstances in which practice is taking place (critical breadth)’.
(p1)
Contexts of social pedagogy
and critical reflection
Societal
Geographical,
Political, Social,
Cultural,
Economic
Institutional,
Organisational
Empowerment
Power?
Participation
Control ?
Rights
Dominance ?
Learning
Individual
Influence?
Relationships
1. Professional responsibility
Centrality of ethical practice in social pedagogy
Code of SW ethics, Ireland & UK
 Respect for the inherent dignity and worth of persons
/ human rights (UK)
 Pursuit of social justice (UK)
 Integrity of professional practice / professional
integrity (UK)
 Confidentiality & competence in professional practice
We have power and must understand and use it
responsibly
2. To learn, adjust & develop
The Learning Zone Model,
Senninger (2000)
3. Lazy brains!
The human condition is predisposed to take the path of least
resistance
Automaticity ‘the control of one's internal psychological
processes by external stimuli and events in one's immediate
environment, often without knowledge or awareness of such
control…, despite good intentions’, Bargh & Williams, 2006:1
Social constructivism
‘we don’t see the world as it is, we see it as we are’ Anais Nin
‘the hearer, not the speaker, determines the meaning’ Heinz Von
Foerster
Some societal level influences
 Neoliberalism: ‘a theory of political economic practices that
proposes that human well-being can be best advanced by liberating
individual entrepreneurial freedoms and skills within an institutional
framework characterised by strong private property rights, free markets
and free trade’ (Harvey, 2005:2).
 Consumerism: the promotion of the consumer’s interests; the theory
that an increasing consumption of goods is economically desirable; a
preoccupation with and an inclination toward the buying of stuff and
things
 Individualism: favouring freedom of action for individuals over
collective or state control.
 Communication: emails, video conferencing, social networks
And more…
Some institutional level influences
 New Public Management – emphasis on the 3Ms:
 Markets: free trade in public services; commodification
of children
 Managers: top down managerialism, increased
bureaucracy
 Measurements: outcomes/target-driven policy &
practice
 Recession & austerity: increased need vs decreasing
funds
 Dominance of certain theoretical perspectives, e.g.
attachment, behaviourism
 Reductionism, simplification – ‘social workers should do
the simple things properly’ Laming, 2003
Individual level influences
Individual level influences
Personal
Private
Professional
Other’s needs
Others &
own needs
Own needs
Some individual level influences
 Organisational targets, goals, values, preferences
 Culture, leadership styles, systems, structures, methods and
practices
 Workforce morale, perceptions of own and others’ power,

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


status, position “first, cover your back”
Organisational and personal image of the child and social
welfare client
Physical and emotional states, e.g. hunger, fatigue, stress
Own experiences, values, cultures, prejudices, assumptions,
preferences
Our ability to observe without judgement
And more…
How can we develop as critically reflective practitioners,
organisations and educationalists?
The learning zone and the sea
Social pedagogical approach to critical reflection
 Central values include Equality, Respect, Empathy, Curiosity
 Process of deconstruction for holistic scrutiny
 Actively concerned with the relational
 Asks critical questions, analyses assumptions, challenges
prejudices
 Participants are open to:
 New information & learning
 Accommodating a range of perspectives alongside own
 Making and owning mistakes
 Letting go of old ideas
 Sitting with uncertainty & complexity
 Culminates in identifying learning and the associated
necessary changes to practice
Critical Topics & Questions
 Power – who has it, who doesn’t, who wants/needs more?
the most common way people give up their power is by
thinking they don’t have any – Alice Walker
 Why were certain theories, models or methods chosen?
 Whose perspective dominates and why?
 Joy (is relational vitamins, Berit Bae) – how does the person experience

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joy, what opportunities have been created?
How have I listened? Have I fully utilised all my senses?
How could relationships be affected by this course of action?
What damage /unintended consequences could result?
What roles do optimism and hope play in how we are talking and
thinking about this person/case?
I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is
made up, this diminishes fear
Rosa Parks
References
 Fook & Gardner, 2008
 Ruch 2007, 2011
 Thompson 2008
 Mager, 1844
 Friere, 1970
 Bargh & Williams
 Kahneman
 Ordonez, Schweitzer, Galinsky, Braverman (2009) harvard business school, Goals
gone wild: the systemic side effects of over prescribing goal setting, working paper
no 09-083, feb 2009